The petition of residents of the UK,
Declares that the proposed national school funding formula would see reductions to the budgets of schools in Calderdale at a time when finances are already stretched; and further that an online petition on this matter received 1,042 signatures.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Secretary of State for Education to reconsider the proposed national school funding formula to ensure that Calderdale schools do not lose out and that no school receives less than £4800 per pupil.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Holly Lynch , Official Report, 25 April 2017; Vol. 624, c. 1067 .]
[P002034]
Observations from the Minister for School Standards (Nick Gibb):
The Secretary of State announced the final details of the national funding formulae for schools and high needs on September 14, following the consultation launched in December 2016. All Calderdale schools will be allocated increased funding through the formula.
The introduction of the national funding formulae is supported by significant extra investment of £1.3 billion across 2018-19 and 2019-20, over and above the spending levels announced in the 2015 Autumn Statement. Core funding for schools and high needs will rise from almost £41 billion in 2017-18 to £42.4 billion in 2018-19 and £43.5 billion in 2019-20. This will allow us to maintain school and high needs funding in real terms per pupil for the next two years.
This additional investment has allowed us to build on the proposals in our consultation. As a result, the national funding formula will:
Recognise the challenges of the very lowest funded schools, by introducing a minimum per pupil funding level. Under the national funding formula, in 2019-20 all secondary schools will attract at least £4,800 per pupil, and all primary schools will attract at least £3,500 per pupil. In 2018-19, as a step towards these minimum funding levels, secondary schools will attract at least £4,600, and primary schools £3,300.
Provide a cash increase in respect of every school and every local area from April 2018. Final decisions on local distribution will be taken by local authorities, but under the national funding formula every school will attract at least 0.5% more per pupil in 2018-19, and 1% more in 2019-20, compared to its baseline.
Increase the basic amount of funding that every pupil will attract.
Provide significantly larger increases in respect of underfunded schools, of up to 3% per pupil in 2018-19 and a further 3% per pupil in 2019-20. The minimum per pupil funding level will not be subject to this gains cap, and so will deliver faster gains in respect of the very lowest funded schools.
The final national funding formula for schools therefore meets the requests outlined in the petition.
Full details on formula allocations can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-tables-for-schools-and-high-needs.
These include notional school level allocations showing what each school would attract through the formula. As the Secretary of State set out in July, to provide stability for schools through the transition to the national funding formula, local authorities will continue to set their own local formulae which will determine individual schools’ budgets in their areas, in 2018-19 and 2019-20, in consultation with local schools.